Over the course of 2011, there were was plenty of information about political dirt out there. Anywhere from sex scandals, to the Justice Department which allowed guns to illicitly flow into Mexico. However, these our some of these scandals which, to me, stood out the most.

John Ensign

John Ensign resigned in April after an investigation into an affair he had with his best friend’s wife. It was said that the senator resigned to avoid further embarrassment from being dismissed from the government after a report was shown saying he tried to cover up an extramarital affair with Cindy Hampton, the wife of his former top aide, Doug Hampton. It was also stated that Ensign tried to cover up the scandal, had lied to the government to cover it up, and used the finances from his campaign when trying to do so.

News of the World

News of the World, which is one of the largest daily newspapers in London, hacked into the cell phone of a missing teenager in order to get more information. After there was no more room for new messages they deleted some of the messages in order to get some more. The parents of the missing teen took the deleted messages as a sign that their child was still alive when she was actually dead. Rupert Murdoch, who owns the company, as well as Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, had been investigated before for hacking into celebrity phones.

Solyndra

Solyndra was the the main company for the Obama administration’s effort to create more jobs the centered around earth-friendly or “green energy” jobs. The solar power plant was granted just over half a billion dollars in order to stop from going bankrupt, but even with that money they still did. Afterwards its offices were raided by the FBI. The House of Representatives are still investigating currently whether or not the White House may have had any influence on the Energy Department to get the Solyndra loan approved.